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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Molecular Viral Pathogenesis
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1560330
This article is part of the Research Topic Cytokine Signaling and Innate Host Defense in Modulation of Viral Infections and The Viral Evasion View all 3 articles
Self-Assembled Epitope-based Nanoparticles Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Enhanced the Immune Response and Induced Potential Broad Neutralizing Activity
Provisionally accepted
Yue Liu 1,2
Chenxi Li 3 Zirui Wu 3
Yu Zhao 3 Tieyan Yin 3 Xiaopan Liu 3 Jiaru Hui 3 Yi Pan 3 Qingyu Wang 3
Yaming Shan 4
Xinglong Qu 5*- 1 Department of Echocardiography, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Hebei Province, China
- 2 Institute of Virology and AIDS Research, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China
- 3 National Engineering Laboratory of AIDS Vaccine, School of life science, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China
- 4 Jilin University, Changchun, China
- 5 Department of respiratory, the first hospital of jilin university, Changchun, Hebei Province, China
COVID-19 has resulted in a global pandemic with millions of infections and deaths. Current vaccines target the spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2, but its high mutation rate challenges their effectiveness. Conserved epitopes combined with a nanoparticle (NP) platform provide a potential solution to issues such as limited cross-protection and relatively short effectiveness. In this study, four conserved epitopes from the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and S2 subunit of the S protein were identified and integrated into Helicobacter pylori ferritin to create epitope-based NPs named S18-F, RBM-F, UH-F, and HR2-F. These NPs induced high titers of epitope-specific antibodies lasting three months post-immunization. Furthermore, sera from the RBM-F, UH-F, and HR2-F groups exhibited neutralizing activity against the SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus WH-1 in vitro. Splenic lymphocytes from the S18-F, RBM-F, and UH-F groups showed significantly increased proliferation. Lymphocytes from the RBM-F group demonstrated increased secretion of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-10 cytokines, potentially fostering a balanced Th1 and Th2 immune response. Additionally, immune sera from the S18-F and mixed-immunized groups exhibited antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. The results indicate that these NPs induce robust humoral and cellular immune responses, potentially offering a promising strategy for effective vaccine development against SARS-CoV-2.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, ferritin, Self-assembled nanoparticles, key epitopes, immunogenicity study
Received: 14 Jan 2025; Accepted: 20 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Li, Wu, Zhao, Yin, Liu, Hui, Pan, Wang, Shan and Qu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xinglong Qu, Department of respiratory, the first hospital of jilin university, Changchun, Hebei Province, China
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